Govt to go all out for a law to deter communal violence

The UPA Government will make all efforts to get a law to deter communal violence passed in Parliament and give protection to minorities.
    
The government will also seek the active participation of the majority community in implementation of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee for welfare of the Muslims.
    
"My ministry will make all efforts to ensure that the Communal Violence Bill, which has been pending since the last government, is passed," Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed said.
     
The Bill, aimed at giving protection to the minorities, provides punitive measures for perpetrators of the riots, and has been pending with the UPA government after the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) drafted it.
     
"The Bill has been under inter-ministerial consultation and dialogue. We will definitely make efforts to see that it is passed by this government as it is something that needs to be done. We are going to have detailed discussions with all the ministries concerned on the issue as it requires a combined effort," Khursheed said.
      
The Minister, however, declined to give any time frame on the issue since detailed consultations had to be carried out with the Home and other ministries.      

Khursheed said that a cautious approach has to be adopted while dealing with communal problems as "hyperbole is not the best way to handle social conflicts". After all people have to live together, he said.
     
He said that "active participation" of the majority community will be needed in the implementation of the recommendations of Sachar Committee, which examined the social and economical status of the Muslims and suggested remedial measures.
     
"Minority welfare has to be the part of the national effort. It cannot be an exclusive minority thing. The majority must be stakeholders in what is being done for the minorities," the Minister said, hoping that there should not be any road block in implementing the Committee's report.
      
Asked about his ministry's stand on the vexed issue of reservation for Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims on the lines of the Scheduled Caste, a demand which has also been raised by NDA's ally JD-U recently, Khursheed said that his Ministry will "certainly examine the issue."
    
He, however, termed it a "sensitive issue" and said there was a need to take all sections of the society along on it.
     
Khursheed said there could be some constitutional constraints on the reservation issue but noted that some recent Supreme Court judgements could help the government.
    
"Reservation is not the only answer to social welfare although it is definitely time-tested and popular answer for welfare and empowerment," he said.
     
The ministry, he said, is looking at "empowerment in totality" and felt a genuine effort made by the software sector through technical education for the underprivileged could have much more success in that direction.
     

Underlining that the UPA government and the Congress party were "committed to giving attention to the minorities," he said that the Sachar Committee was a "major step" as far as the Muslims were concerned and it's implementation would be on the highest priority this time.
      
At the same time, he had a word of caution saying, "We will have to see that procedural delays do not negate the noble dream that we have for implementing the Sachar Committee report".
        
Khursheed said the issue of Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC), which was also pending with the Centre, was "an extremely promising step" and an "answer for the future".
      
"It's an answer for the lot of the piecemeal efforts that we are making for empowerment. It's an extremely promising step that we can take during the course of this government.
      
"We are in process of active consultation with other ministries, other empowerment-related agencies," Khursheed said, adding that his ministry would like the efforts to move fast.
      
"The potential of EOC is fantastic. We have an excellent opportunity in it. It takes forward my argument that minority welfare is part of the total national effort," he said.